


Divide Universe: Two Short Stories

by prairiecrow



Category: ReBoot (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Change of Form, M/M, Regret, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-24
Updated: 2012-06-24
Packaged: 2017-11-08 10:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/442450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiecrow/pseuds/prairiecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A pair of short stories set in the "Divide" AU, in which Bob, having managed to convert Megabyte into a pseudosprite format, is forced to change him back again - and is not happy about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Triumph

**Author's Note:**

> 1) Teasers for the "Divide" universe AU, a summary of which can be found here:
> 
> http://www.freewebs.com/divideseries/ficversesummary.htm
> 
> 2) More excerpts (including a long NC-17 sequence) from the story these fics reference, "Turning":
> 
> http://crowdog66.tumblr.com/post/25784783889/some-long-excerpts-from-turning-pg-13-to-nc-17
> 
> 3) Bob and sprite!Megabyte, by the fan artist Sangluna: 
> 
> http://www.freewebs.com/divideseries/bob-mb-finished.jpg.jpeg

So, Megabyte — you’ve got your second chance. Are you happy now? Right... like I even have to ask.

I should have seen this coming. You seemed to be adjusting to life as a sprite, but with you “seeming” is just another way to manipulate people and get them under your power. I should have had my head examined for thinking that two and a half minutes would be enough time to start overwriting your viral instincts and responses. I can see now that all you wanted was this: a chance to return to your original format. You were watching and waiting for it, and as soon as the opportunity presented itself you seized it like the apex predator you are.

And now I’m standing here, looking up at you as you tower over me and gaze down at me with those cold alien eyes, making no particular effort to hide your sense of triumph. I know I had no choice, that we need your expertise to fight the Necro Codex and that this is the price of your cooperation, but still...

What happened between us... was that a lie, too?

You talked about feeling like you’d been infected, about not being able to stop thinking about me. You said: _I want you to belong to me, now and forever._  No matter how I try I can’t get those words, or how you said them, out of my head. Now that your sprite format is history, has that been destroyed too? Or is it still in there somewhere, someplace where I can still reach it?

No time for that now. We’ve got an enemy to fight. But when the battle’s over we’re going to finish the conversation the Codex Cube interrupted. Count on it.


	2. Defeat

I step from the smoky interior of the format restructuring chamber clad not in skin and fabric, but in the full glory of my true power. Tell me Guardian, does it make your heart sink to see me thus? I believe it does, for any number of reasons.

When you captured me and decided to make me into a creature like yourself — changing my format against my will, turning me into flesh and bone and blood too easily spilled — you intended to trap me in the form of a sprite forever. You thought that it would overwrite my spirit into something closer to your own. Little fool, how ignorant you are when it comes to the viruses you’re customized to fight! If you knew anything about me you would have understood that my proud essence would never be humbled by something as shallow, as cosmetic, as the condition of my outer code. Yes, you could make me into a pseudosprite in your image; yes, you could use the weaknesses of that body to lure me into something like captivity. But surely somewhere amidst all your good intentions you suspected that I would never truly rest until I was a being of steel and electricity once more, as immune to the touch of your hand as I am to love or compassion or any other “virtue” you hold dear.

I look down at you now and I see the sorrow in your eyes, and I savour this moment of triumph. I’ve won, and by the time this cycle is over I will have control over not only my own destiny but all of Mainframe as well. It will be a profound pleasure to repay you for all that you’ve done to me these last two and a half minutes.

And yet I find myself cursing you anew, for something within me still perceives your pain and resonates in response. A mere echo of the past which will fade with time, I’m quite certain. If not, your deletion will surely serve to put it entirely to rest.


End file.
